United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Appeals for the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: Judges: 11 Posts: 12 Vacancies: 1 Active judges Bryson • Dyk • Gajarsa • Linn • Lourie • Moore • Newman • Prost • Rader • Reyna • Wallach Senior Judges Archer • Clevenger • Friedman • Gajarsa • Mayer • Plager • Schall Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

U.S. Federal Courts
General jurisdiction courts
Supreme Court of the United States U.S. Courts of Appeal Federal district courts
Subject-matter jurisdiction
Bankruptcy courts Court of Federal Claims Armed Forces Veterans Claims Tax Court International Trade Intelligence Surveillance
Federal judges
Federal judiciary

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is a United States court of appeal. It was created by Congress with passage of the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982.

Jurisdiction

The Federal Circuit is the only one of the thirteen federal appeals courts whose jurisdiction is determined entirely on the subject of the lawsuits it hears, rather than on the geographical location from which the appeal originated.

Specifically, it is the job of the Federal Circuit to hear all appeals from United States district courts related to:

• Non-tort monetary complaints against the federal government where the contested dollar amount is under $10,000 (the "Little Tucker Act").
• All appeals from decisions of any of the United States district courts where the original action included a complaint arising under the patent laws, except, as the Supreme Court has decided, not if the patent claims arose solely as counter-claims by the defendant.
• The other federal appellate courts can now hear patent counter-claims in theory. However, this happens infrequently.

The Federal Circuit's jurisdiction is set out as:

• Article I tribunals:
  • United States Court of Federal Claims
  • United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
  • United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
  • United States Board of Appeals and Interferences of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
  • Boards of Contract Appeals (for government contracts)
  • United States Merit Systems Protection Board (federal employment and employment benefits)
  • United States International Trade Commission

• Article III tribunals:
  • United States Court of International Trade
  • United States district courts (for patent and certain other appeals)

Judges

Active judges

William Bryson Timothy Dyk Richard Linn Alan Lourie Kimberly Moore Pauline Newman

Sharon Prost Randall Rader Kathleen M. O'Malley Jimmie V. Reyna Evan Wallach Vacancy (Edward C. DuMont nominee)

Senior judges

• Raymond Clevenger
• Daniel Friedman
• Arthur Gajarsa
• Haldane Mayer
• Sheldon Plager
• Alvin Schall

See also

• Federal Circuit Act of 1982

External links

• United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Judges of the Federal Circuit
• The Federal Circuit Bar Journal
• Recent opinions from Findlaw
• The Federal Circuit Bar Association
• The Federal Circuit Historical Society